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Felix and Changbin are friends, best friends. Everyone knows this, ever since Felix moved into the house that's a couple of houses down from Changbin's own when he was six. Felix never thought that he'd find a friend that fast, because he was a shy kid, and never liked talking to other children anyway, especially in a language that he wasn't familiar with, but that didn't stop an eight year old Changbin from chatting him up at their local playground, asking if he wanted to trade Pokémon cards and not minding the fact that Felix never muttered more than two words during their first encounter.Felix, naturally, agreed, and during that week of August spent everyday with Changbin. The older boy was fun, and always found interesting ways to keep Felix's easily distracted mind entertained. This arrangement continued until their parents got involved, and soon enough both boys got introduced to each other's families and hung out at each other's houses so much so that they often slept over. And the rest was history.Felix, now fourteen and dealing with the confusing yet unavoidable phenomenon called puberty, stops pedalling his bicycle in front of Changbin's house one hot summer afternoon, a scowl on his face at seeing the closed door of the older boy's house. He gets off the bike in one fluid movement and stomps up to the door, knocking on the surface as he does so. "Hey, Seo Changbin! Open the door!"There is no response, so Felix keeps on knocking. He doesn't worry about making too much noise, because the neighbourhood's nearly empty due to people going on vacations, and Changbin's parents aren't home either. They're out of the country.Felix knows Changbin's not a light sleeper, which makes the situation all the more frustrating. Why is Changbin asleep when it's nearly 2 PM, anyway?"Changbin, I swear to god I'll break down this door if you don't open it," Felix growls, but once again, there's no response. Felix sighs, pulling out his phone from his jeans. He's all dressed up, because he and Changbin have somewhere to be, but here Changbin is, forgetting about their plans, as usual.Changbin doesn't pick up even when Felix calls him about five times, and by this time, Felix should give up, because it seems like Changbin isn't going to wake up anytime soon, but Felix doesn't want to. He has no one but his best friend to go out with to meet Jisung and his friend Naeun, and he really, really doesn't want to go alone.Softly hitting on the door, which is Felix's last attempt at waking Changbin, he whispers, "Changbin, please wake up. Or else this friendship is over--"The Australian nearly falls over when the door is pulled back, and almost falls on the male standing in front of him."Felix?" Changbin sounds tired, and he rubs his eyes, seemily unaffected by the daggers Felix is glaring at him. "What are you doing here?""What am I doing here?" Felix mirrors, jabbing his finger into Changbin's bare chest, "I should be the one asking that, Changbin. I was knocking on that door for like, ten minutes straight, and I even called you, yet you didn't answer me.""...Well I'm here now," Changbin smiles, but Felix is having none of it.Ignoring the fact that Changbin is shirtless (it honestly isn't the first time Felix has seen his friend without a shirt on, but it never fails to make the Australian feel uncomfortable), Felix marches inside Changbin's house and plops himself on the couch that he's spent many nights on."What about your bicycle?" Changbin asks, gesturing to the forgotten bike outside. Felix huffs and Changbin just sighs and goes to bring it to the backyard, like he always does when Felix forgets that he has a very expensive bike, that Changbin gifted to him by the way.When he comes back inside, Felix is still in the same position that he was in before, and he knows that he's made his friend angry. "...What did I do this time?""We have to meet Jisung and Naeun in that bubble tea shop by 2:20, remember? It's 2:15 now," Felix explains, still pointedly not watching Changbin. He sighs when he hears the gasp that Changbin usually lets out when he remembers something that he isn't supposed to forget in the first place. "Yeah.""We still have a couple minutes. I'll get ready in five minutes tops," Changbin promises, pacing around the living room like the anxious teenager that he is. "Where's my shirt?"Felix's eyes fall on the black shirt a few feet away from him on the couch, and gingerly looks at Changbin. His eyes unintentionally linger on Changbin's defined arms for a second too long before he tears them away. "Here, idiot." He takes the shirt and tosses it towards Changbin's head. "Quickly put it on. I don't want to see your gross body.""You wish you looked like me," Changbin jokes, but puts it on like Felix instructed. "See?" He flexs his right arm, and Felix makes a fake barfing sound."Go and shower, you swine," Felix forces himself to laugh, but when Changbin leaves, he stops, turning on the TV to try and distract himself from how weird he feels. 
_______
  
"So...why are we meeting Jisung and Naeun again?" Changbin asks when they're walking through the city.
  
Felix furrows his eyebrows, and folds his arms across his chest. "Jisung and Naeun are like, dating, and I don't want to be a third wheel."
  
"So you brought me along," Changbin adds, a smug smile taking over his face, "I know. I'm awesome."
  
"I had no one else," Felix explains himself.
  
"Sure," Changbin smiles, before ruffling Felix's hair, to the taller's instant displeasure.
  
Changbin knows how much effort Felix puts into styling his hair, and how he likes his hair to be perfectly placed on his head. For Changbin to do such a thing was considered a mortal sin in Felix's book, and the Australian glares at his friend and immediately starts fixing his hair.
  
"Changbin, I am going to kill you," Felix threatens.
  
Changbin throws his head back and laughs like he's just witnessed the funniest scene in his sixteen years of living.
  
"I'm not kidding."
  
"You are. If we fight--which we've already done--we both know who's going to come out on top. Me, obviously."
  
Felix groans, because he knows this is one of the few moments that Changbin is actually right. He won't stand a chance, even if he's practiced taekwondo before, because his friend is undeniably stronger than him, in like every way possible.
  
"Let that sink in," Changbin laughs, and Felix slaps his shoulder when they get to that bubble tea shop. The Australian pretends not to feel disappointed when Changbin doesn't react in the slightest to Felix's hit.
"Ooh," Changbin lets out, distracting Felix from his thoughts, "Jisung and Naeun seemed to find a way to pass the time in our absense."Felix rolls his eyes, and rolls his eyes even more when he takes notice of Naeun feeding Jisung a slice of vanilla cake. He can't believe his friends and how eager they are to publicly display their affection to one another. The sight also makes Felix realize how pathetically single he is, since he's the only one in his friend group that hasn't dated anyone yet. Changbin has even dated a girl, and even if it didn't last long, it still counted as a relationship."Should we leave them?" Changbin asks, looking up at Felix. "We can go somewhere else, together."Felix shakes his head, before walking to where Jisung and Naeun are stationed. "I want free food. Naeun, Jisung!"Jisung nearly chokes on his cake, and Naeun laughs that high pitched laugh that everyone associates with her because of how real and uncensored it sounds."You guys are here. Finally," Naeun says, taking a sip out of her boba tea. It's honeydew flavoured, like always.Jisung nods, despite looking very bothered about Changbin's and Felix's interruption. "Yeah. What took you guys so long anyway?"Jisung pointedly looks at Changbin, and the latter shrugs. Felix doesn't know what's happening."Changbin was still asleep when I went to his house," Felix says, seating in front of Naeun. Changbin takes the seat next to him. "And you guys know how long it takes him to wake up when he's sleeping."Both Jisung and Naeun nod, and Changbin tries to defend himself."It's summer, alright? I have the right to sleep until whenever I want.""But we had plans to meet Jisung and Naeun," Felix argues.Changbin takes a bite out of Jisung's cake. "You're acting like this is a date or something."Felix scoffs, his cheeks burning due to embarrassment. "Like I'd ever go on a date with you.""Everyone wants to go on a date with me.""I don't."Jisung and Naeun watch both boys bicker like they're watching a tennis match, and are silent until Felix and Changbin no longer have anything to say to each other."Are you done?" Jisung asks."I want donuts," Changbin replies, and Felix feels like bashing his head against the wall.Jisung and Naeun spend the majority of their time at the shop doing cheesy romantic things with each other, and Felix looks through his phone while Changbin stuffs his face with food."Do you want to try this banana cake, Felix?" Changbin asks, shoving a slice of the cake in front of the Australian's face, "It's really delicious. Here, I'll feed it to you."This is the fourth time Changbin has tried feeding Felix food, since it's always 'their' thing to feed each other food, especially Changbin, but Felix won't let him. He's still mad, and he doesn't even know the reason anymore. "No.""Please, Lix," Changbin pleads with an attempt at a cute smile, and Felix blankly stares at him. Changbin bats his eyelashes. "Please?"Felix huffs in defeat, and Changbin cheers and watches with a small smile as Felix bites and chews on the cake."How was it?"Felix swallows the cake and gives a thumbs up. "It's not made by you, so it's good."Changbin frowns. "I'm a good cook. At least for a sixteen year old.""Lies."Changbin makes Felix take another bite. "We're definitely not as cheesy as Jisung and Naeun. I feed you better than Naeun does to Jisung."Felix's eyes widen at Changbin's words, and he starts coughing, realizing that they're at a public place."You okay?" Naeun asks, Felix's cough distracting her and Jisung."I'm fine," Felix wheezes, pushing his chair sideways so that there's more space between him and Changbin."Good, because if you die, I don't want to be held as your murderer," Jisung jokes.Felix flips him a middle finger, but laughs despite the heaviness in his chest. He glances at Changbin, and heaves an inaudible sigh of relief when the older looks occupied with the boba tea on the table. 
_______
  
"This is just an excuse for Jisung to find more reasons to touch Naeun," Changbin reasons as he and Felix watch the newly made couple spin around the rollerskating rink without a care in the word.
  
It's an outdoor skating rink, so that means that there're other people around who either skate or buy some food from the stands that show themselves at night.
Felix is glad that his clothes aren't thin like Changbin's, and does a little spin to test if his skating skills aren't rusty. He feels Changbin's eyes on him as he twirls, and raises a brow at him. "What?""I realized that I can skate better than you," Changbin chuckles, ignoring the glare that Felix sends his way."You wish.""Wanna test it out?"Felix doesn't wait for Changbin before he starts to skate around the rink, laughing when he sees Changbin far behind him. "I'm winning already!"Changbin immediately starts skating after Felix, passing Jisung and Naeun (who are busy talking to each other about something), and heading straight for the Australian.Felix doesn't stop skating, and increases his speed when he sees that Changbin is gaining on him. In a few seconds, he rounds a corner, only for him to collide with something firm yet human-like. Felix almost falls, but a pair of arms stop him from doing so."Don't fall, Lix."There's only one person that calls Felix by that nickname, and Felix frowns at the person. "You were blocking my way, Changbin."Changbin smiles, his grip on Felix's arm loosening only a little bit. "Because I won~"Felix shakes his head. "You didn't."Jisung and Naeun skate next to Changbin and Felix, and Naeun giggles when she sees the two teens' positions."What are you guys doing anyway?" Jisung all but asks."Skating," Changbin grins, patting Felix's head, "and I won the bet.""Let me go, Changbin.""Sure." Changbin stops holding Felix's arms, and the Australian almost falls. "Whoops.""Why are you my best friend?" Felix voices out as he smooths out his shirt."Because you love me," Changbin replies, before looking at Jisung and Naeun. "I really want some ice cream. Let's get some before we go home.""Sure," Jisung nods.They all soon leave the skating rink, and Felix spends the time ignoring Changbin's presence, and gets more irritated when Changbin doesn't look bothered by how moody he's being. 
_______
  
When Felix gets home that night, he says a quick greeting to his parents and little sister, and runs into his room before jumping on the bed. He wants to sleep so badly, but he's too restless to do so.
  
He takes out his phone when he sees that Jisung has texted him.
  
Jisungg: you still mad at changbin [sent 8:18 pm]
  
Lix: no [sent 8:18 pm]
  
Jisungg: he said you were Jisungg: you guys better make up before summer ends [sent 8:19 pm]
  
Lix: whatever [sent 8:19 pm]
  
Jisungg: and also, when you 'thirdwheel' our dates, dont bring changbin along [sent 8:19 pm]
  
Lix: why? [sent 8:20 pm]
  
Jisungg: he'll think it's a date [sent 8:20 pm]
  
Lix: but it's not, obviously Lix: everyone knows this already [sent 8:22 pm]
  
Jisungg: that's not what he said [sent 8:22 pm]
  
Lix: what? Lix: what exactly did he say [sent 8:23 pm]
  
Jisungg: uh Jisungg: i need to do the dishes Jisungg: mom said so Jisungg: see you tomorrow [sent 8:23 pm]
  
Lix: jisung. [sent 8:24 pm]

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Felix spends the next few days asking Jisung what he meant with that text that he sent him, but he gets nothing out of the older boy."Just tell me already," Felix begs as he trails after Jisung when he follows him home after hanging out one afternoon. When Jisung speeds up his walking, Felix does so too. "What did Changbin say?""Oh my god, get away from me," Jisung replies, running towards his house. When Felix runs after him, he quickly opens the door and slams it shut, locking it."I can still see you through the window, you know?" Felix says, staring through the open window of Jisung's house. His little cousins are inside, playing some card games and generally being oblivious to Felix's stares.Jisung suddenly appears in Felix's view, and the Australian almost jumps back in fright. "Felix, stop asking me dumb questions and leave me alone. I have to go call Naeun.""It's not dumb," Felix counters, crossing his arms across his chest. "I just need to know.""If you to know so badly, then just ask Changbin what he said," Jisung says, before dragging the curtain across the window and hereby shutting Felix out.Felix groans, feeling like screaming and kicking the door down to get to Jisung (that betrayer), but then he realizes how irrational he's being. Jisung is right, he should just ask Changbin, but Felix somehow doesn't want to, which is weird, because he and Changbin are best friends. Best friends are supposed to tell each other everything, so why didn't Changbin tell him what he said about him instead of going to Jisung, of all people, about it?He walks home, contemplating retreating inside his house for the rest of the day. His parents won't mind, but his little sister will, especially when she brings her annoyingly loud friends over tonight. Nope. He doesn't want to deal with that.Felix finds himself passing his house, and in a few minutes, he's standing in front of Changbin's nicely painted house, not really knowing how to proceed.The house looks empty, as it always does, and the Australian wonders if Changbin is even home. He won't be surprised if Changbin wasn't, because the older tends to go out at random times without alerting anyone, even his best friend.Felix's phone starts ringing a moment after, and he picks it up without checking who called him because he's too busy staring at Changbin's house."Hello? Who is it?" asks Felix, lightly pressing the phone to his right ear."Come over tonight." It's Changbin.Felix feels relieved that Changbin wants him to come over, but he doesn't want to show how excited he is, so he nonchalantly asks, "Why?""I just want you to come. We can have a sleep over," Changbin answers. He pauses, before adding, "'Cause...I'm kind of alone."Felix stares at the second floor of Changbin's house, where the latter's room is located. He wonders what Changbin's doing in there. "...Your parents aren't home yet?""No, but you're used to that already." Changbin sighs. "I'm used to it too. But--just come over, okay? Any time is fine. I just want you there."Felix starts to smile, even though he was in a bad mood a few minutes prior to now. The he clears his throat, forcing his expression to turn back neutral. "Any time? How about six?""Isn't that a bit too early?"Felix rolls his eyes. "Do you want me to come or not?""I do, I do. I just--wait. You're in front of my house, aren't you?"Felix ducks under the roof of Changbin's house just as Changbin peers out of his room's window."I'm in my house," Felix lies, backing up against the house's front door. The patterns softly dig into his back, but he doesn't mind it. His heart is racing, and due to what, Felix doesn't know."Oh, okay," Changbin replies, and Felix can almost see his shrug. "See you at six, then. And bring snacks too."Felix nods. "Sure."He runs home afterwards.
_______
 
"I hope you're not taking everything," Olivia says, her observant eyes burning holes into the side of Felix's head as he grabs whatever snack he can from the cabinets.
 
"Yeah, whatever." Felix shrugs.
 
Olivia gasps when he takes her favourite brand of gummy worms and shoves it into the large bag he's taking with him. "Don't take that! It's for me and my friends!"
 
Felix pushes a tortilla chip into his mouth. "Don't care."
 
Olivia lets out a strangled sound that seems like a mix between a scream and a curse word, but Felix doesn't pay any attention to it. After the bag is filled because he can't gracefully shove anything inside it anymore, he walks out of the kitchen, Olivia immediately following after him.
 
"Dad, mom! He took all of the snacks," she exclaims, addressing her and her brother's parents who are watching a soap opera on the couch.
 
"Liv, you know how he does his sleep overs with Changbin. Felix's probably gonna bring even more snacks home," their mother says. Dad just grunts in response.
 
"Thank you," Felix smirks, side-eyeing his younger sister.
 
She glares at him and stomps into her room, muttering about how their parents like Felix more than her and special privileges and all that.
 
"I'll be back tomorrow," Felix says to his parents after hearing a door slam. "See you later."
 
His parents nod, but other than that they're unresponsive, but Felix doesn't dwell too much on that. He doesn't really talk to his parents that much anyway.
 
He feels cold as soon as he steps out of the house, and even his cherry red hoodie isn't helping with that. He thinks about using his bicycle to make his journey to Changbin's house quicker, but then remembers that he forgot the bike at his friend's house.
 
He starts to walk faster, because his neighbourhood can look quite spooky at night, despite the numerous street lights and lit up houses. He thinks about Mr Yoo, the old man that seats outside of his house at night and creepily watches everyone that passes him and walks even faster.
 
It's not that Felix is scared (he can't be, because he's a guy and guys can't be scared, and they always have to be tough), but he doesn't want to get jumped or killed by that man.
 
He sighs in relief when he finally sees Changbin's home, and quickly nods on the door when it's 5:53 PM.
 
"Welcome," Changbin draws out as soon as he opens the door. Felix nods, before pushing past him and entering the empty house. "Did you bring those gummy worms?"
 
"Of course," Felix says, dropping his bag on the couch. "It's in that bag. Olivia was being a bitch about it though."
"Thanks Lix." Changbin starts going through the bag, and Felix watches him as he does so. Changbin always asks Felix to bring snacks whenever he comes over, simply because his parents always bring an assortment of healthy food and force Changbin to go on diets anytime they come back home, so that is why Changbin craves sweet things so much."You brought along that blanket too?" Changbin asks, pulling out Felix's favourite blanket. It's  dark blue and has small cartoon ducks on it. Felix doesn't like the design, but he likes how warm the blanket makes him feel after he wraps it around him like a burrito."What? It's really comfy. You can't say anything since you sleep with a plushie." Felix searches for the TV remote and when he finds it, turns on some random channel on the TV screen."Don't disrespect Gyu like that. He's not just a plushie," Changbin argues, already munching on those gummy worms. "He's everything."Felix laughs at that, before staring at Changbin who is now watching him. "What?"Changbin shakes a red gummy worm in front of Felix's face. "Take."Felix leans in and opens his mouth, closing it as soon as Changbin feeds him the worm."More~" Changbin says, bringing out three gummy worms this time. Felix nods, drawing even closer to Changbin so that the worms won't fall. Changbin smiles, before suddenly dropping everything in Felix's open mouth all at once, almost dying of laughter when Felix starts coughing. "Oh my god!"Felix hits Changbin's chest. "I'll freaking kill you, Seo!""Try me," Changbin teases, before standing on his feet. As soon as he takes a few steps, Felix leaps on him, bringing the both of them to the ground.Felix manages to kick Changbin's legs before Changbin flips them over, trapping Felix underneath him."So you wanna fight, huh?" Changbin asks, his expression both entertained and a bit curious.Felix grabs Changbin's shoulder before agressively pushing the older male off him. He quickly runs behind Changbin before he gets up and wraps an arm in front of his shoulder, twisting Changbin's left arm behind him. "...Yes."Changbin lets out a brief whimper of pain, and a victorious smile spreads over Felix's face. "Okay okay, let me go now. Whatever.""Not until you tell me what you told Jisung," Felix says suddenly.Changbin stiffens, before shrugging Felix's hands off him and standing up. "I didn't tell him anything.""You did." Felix copies Changbin, walking closer until they're just a few inches apart. "Jisung said you did. What is it? What did you say?"Changbin turns around, before catching Felix off-guard by tripping him. Felix's back hits the ground with a dull thud, and he groans, glaring at Changbin.Changbin mischievously grins, gaining total control over the Australian. Felix tries to move his legs, but Changbin's knees are stopping him from doing so. They make Felix feel discomfort, and it doesn't help that Changbin's so close he can feel the older's hair grazing his exposed forehead. "I won.""Get off me," Felix growls. Changbin moves back, but he's still got the Australian trapped. "What did you tell Jisung?""I already told you. I didn't tell him anything. Jisung's too busy with Naeun to listen to whatever I have to say.""Bullshit," Felix replies, and Changbin sighs. "Jisung doesn't lie like that.""Why do you want to know so badly?""Because--" Actually, Felix doesn't know why he's so adamant to know what Changbin told Jisung. For one, it's none of his business, but then again, anything that Changbin does is his business. "Because I just want to know.""Well, there's nothing for you to know, since I never said anything."Felix gets frustrated. He knows Changbin is hiding something from him, but he doesn't know what it is. And Changbin's stubborness isn't making the situation better. So, he plays the cute card.He knows how Changbin's a sucker for cute things (he has a munchlax plushie named Gyu for Christ's sake and he's sixteen), so he looks directly at Changbin and bats his lashes, making his bottom lip jut out. "Just tell me what you told Jisung, Binnie. I'm your best friend after all."Changbin stares blankly at him for a while, but then his resolve slowly breaks. His frown dissipates into thin air, and his hold on Felix softens. He's just staring at Felix, but the Australian maintains eye contact and keeps his cool because he's determined to know what his best friend said."Binnie?" Felix never calls Changbin Binnie unless he wants something, and now Changbin looks like he's a second away from giving it to him."Okay--fine," Changbin sighs, taking a step back from Felix. The Australian can finally breathe normally again, and stares at Changbin, awaiting his next words."What? What did you tell Jisung?"Changbin doesn't look at Felix. "I told him I think you're cute. That's it.""Oh," Felix deadpans, because he expects something else, something more dramatic. "Okay.""Oh, okay." Changbin mocks, kicking Felix's knee. Felix chuckles, and dodges Changbin's other attacks."Shut up, Changbin."Changbin ignores Felix and crawls to the couch because he's too lazy to walk, grabbing some snacks to eat."Wanna watch a movie? Or show?" Asks Felix, joining Changbin at the couch. The older shrugs, lying sideways on the couch and resting his head on Felix's thighs. "Get off. You called me cute. I can't forgive you for that.""You're cute. Embrace it, sweetheart." Changbin munches on a potato chip, his laugh cutting through the empty house due to how loud it is when Felix shakes his legs to get rid of him."Don't call me 'sweetheart'." Felix's mom already calls his sister that, and he finds it incredibly cheesy. "Don't call me that at all."Changbin stares up at Felix. "Then what do you want me to call you, sweetheart?""Anything else other than that.""What about 'baby'? Or 'babe'?"Felix laughs, though it's a bit higher than his usual laughs. "That'll be weird. We aren't dating.""So I can't call you that as a friend?""Friends don't call each other baby, Changbin."Changbin becomes strangely silent, and doesn't say anything throughout the first movie that they watch."Remember when we first built that pillow fort back when you were still in middle school?" Felix says, lowering the volume of the TV."Yeah," Changbin flashes a fond smile, but yelps when Felix pushes him off his thighs. "What was that for?""Let's build a pillow fort!" Felix claps his hands, before grabbing every available pillow he can find (even from Changbin's room), and then he and Changbin set to work making the fort.They go through several tries to perfect it, since Felix's a clutz and trips on the pillows many times, but they finally finish it in half an hour. Covering the exterior with a blanket to make a makeshift tent, Changbin gets out of the fort to get a flashlight, since the inside is dark.When Changbin returns, he accidentally bumps into Felix. "Sorry.""Your shoulder's as hard as a rock," Felix comments, and Changbin chuckles. He knows Changbin is facing him even in the darkness, and waits for the older to turn on the flashlight.Changbin doesn't."Come on," Felix starts, "turn on the lights."Changbin doesn't listen. "It's not working.""Oh my god," Felix sighs. "Why--why did you get a flashlight that isn't working? Here, give it to me."Changbin searches for Felix's hand, and when he finds it, he grips it and places the flashlight on top of the hand. "Sure."Felix feels for the switch, and when he feels the bump, he flicks it up, instantly brightening the dark fort up. "It's working. Didn't you look for the switch or something?""It was too dark," Changbin mumbles, defending himself. He rolls around and looks upward, staring at the design the flashlight makes on the pillows. It gives off a dark red light, which fills the space between the two males with a pretty glow."So...what should we do now?" Felix asks. He shuffles next to Changbin without knocking any pillow down, miraculously, and lies next to his best friend.Changbin meets his eyes, gently landing an arm over Felix's side. "I have no idea."His hand trails over Felix's abdomen in a circular motion, and Felix shouldn't mind it (he doesn't mind Changbin's random touches usually), but Changbin's hand leaves warmth on Felix's skin wherever it stays and goes, and the Australian suddenly can't bear it."It's hot in here," Felix forces himself to laugh, "I should leave."Without waiting for an answer, he crawls out of the fort, looking at Changbin after he gets out a few seconds later too.Changbin yawns, his feet padding over to the couch. "It's hot too. I should take off my shirt.""I know you wanna show off your pecs, but no, please don't," Felix instantly replies.Changbin tiredly chuckles in response. "Come here."Felix seats next to Changbin on the couch, and the older male quickly curls himself next to Felix, placing his head on the taller's chest."You're going to sleep?" asks Felix."Mhm. Just for a bit."Felix nods, knowing how Changbin will probably wake up later that night and ask Felix to make him cereal or something. He slowly brings a hand on Changbin's soft hair and pets it. He's never done this before, so he pulls his hand away, and listens to Changbin's steady breathing instead."Nooo," Changbin grabs his hand, "continue doing it. I like it.""...Okay." Felix starts petting Changbin's hair again, laughing at how the older is practically cuddling him now. "Wow, you're like a koala, or a really clingy cat.""Thanks.""It's not a compliment."Changbin shrugs. "Whatever you say, sweetheart.""Can you stop with that?""I don't know. Can I?""Please shut up.""No you shut up."Felix sighs, but finds himself smiling when Changbin laughs, because Changbin's laughs never fail to make him smile.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Summer ends a week later in the blink of an eye, and Felix finds himself not ready to start school again. He's going to highschool as a freshman, but he's not looking forward to it because as far as he knows, highschool is just a safe word for prison. And it's also a cesspit of raging hormones, sex, alcohol and drugs, which is what Felix gathers from all those highschool movies he's been watching recently.Even though he's scared, at least he has Changbin and Jisung. He's going to the same school as his best friend, and Jisung's in his grade, so maybe, just maybe, Felix can face highschool with them by his side."Everyone's awkward in highschool," Changbin tells him during one of their sleep overs with Jisung and Naeun, "Everyone's just trying to fit in.""It's still kind of scary," Felix groans, looking at Naeun and Jisung, who are in their own world at the corner. "And everyone in highschool's like, thirsty for relationships.""I guess so," Changbin laughs. He shuffles closer to where Felix is positioned on the ground, and notices how the Australian has himself rolled himself in his favourite blanket like a burrito (like he always does). He smiles fondly at the sight. "Hey...why are you watching Jisung and Naeun?""...How are they not sad that they're going to different schools?" Felix asks instead, keeping his voice slightly above a whisper. "I would be sad if I couldn't go to the same school as the girl I'm dating.""Of course they're sad. But they're just trying to strong for each other. And, it's not like they won't see each other after school. I saw Jisung bawling his eyes out two days ago when he heard the news."At this, Felix finally watches Changbin. "Really?""Yes, really. I was at his house. Naeun was sad too, but her parents are like, really strict about which school she goes to," Changbin replies.Felix knows that too. That's why it's so hard for him to hang out at her house because of her uptight parents. He's gonna miss seeing Naeun nearly every day, but at least they can all still hang out when everyone has time.Then, he raises a brow. "You were at Jisung's house two days ago? Why didn't I know about it?"Changbin looks taken aback, but then quickly averts his eyes. "I forgot."A part of Felix snaps, because he's always been afraid of being alone, of being left out of things by the people who matter to him. "You forgot? Did Naeun know about it too?""Uh--yeah, she did. You were having pizza with your family that night, so I didn't want to bother you.""But you could've at least called me--""So I can hear you say no? You're gonna reject me anyway, so it's better to keep my mouth shut."Felix closes his mouth, at a loss for words. He honestly has no idea what just went on with him and Changbin, his best friend, but he thinks they've just had a fight, no matter how minor it sounds. "What--what are you talking about?"Changbin inhales air through his mouth and exhales it through his nose--what he does whenever he's frustrated with something and holding it back--and shrugs, lying on the floor like a starfish. "Nothing.""Changbin?"Naeun and Jisung are staring at them now, but look away once they get caught by Felix."Fuck. I'm so sorry," Felix quickly apologizes to Changbin, seeing as the older is set on ignoring him. "I didn't mean to get angry. You guys can hang out whenever you want, and I was with my family, so I didn't have the right to say anything."Changbin shakes his head. "Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who didn't tell you about it, when I should've. We're best friends, so we should tell each other everything."And just like that, the tense atmosphere between them evaporates like it was never there in the first place.To make sure that Changbin has completely accepted his apology, Felix takes Changbin's right arm and places it around his waist (because he knows how touchy his friend gets and how much he likes holding Felix). Felix then smiles, hoping that Changbin'll be happy again.Changbin does smile, but the smile looks extremely strained, and he doesn't want to look at Felix."Can you...can you tell me more facts about how highschool is?" Felix asks, chuckling to brighten up the solemn atmosphere. "I'm still kind of afraid.""You don't need to be. Everyone likes you.""Sujeong from maths doesn't like me," Felix argues, and lets out a laugh that sounds like a mixture of cackling and choking when Changbin rolls his eyes at him. "What? She doesn't.""She has a crush on you. Girls show affection in the weirdest ways.""No way," Felix quickly shakes his head. His expression suddenly turns somber as he looks over at Jisung and Naeun once again. "No one can ever like me. If they did, I'd be dating someone by now."Changbin places a hand on Felix's shoulder, and fixes him with a small, but sincere smile. "People like you, trust me.""I'm gonna stay single forever.""Who knows? You can meet the love of your life in highschool.""I'm fourteen, not twenty one," Felix replies, staring at his hands. "I just--want somebody to do cute and romantic stuff with, like Jisung and Naeun. Don't tell them I said that though."Changbin seats up, before poking Felix's arm."What?""At least you have me, your best friend.""Like that's supposed to make me feel better."Changbin pretends to look offended. "Hey!""I'm just kidding," Felix says with a giggle. It comes without warning, and is kind of high-pitched, so Felix looks away, embarrassed.Changbin grins, looking taken aback for the nth time that night. "That was too cute.""I'm not cute. I'm handsome and hot, but not cute.""You keep telling yourself that." Changbin hooks an arm over the Australian's shoulder and slowly cards a hand through Felix's brown hair. Felix doesn't mind it this time, and smiles at Changbin when the older hugs him."What game are you guys playing?" Naeun asks from the corner. "It looks fun.""It's called 'try and compliment Felix'," Changbin answers while looking at Naeun,  "he says he can't get anyone, and wants a relationship like you and Jisung.""I do not!" Felix exclaims. He can't believe Changbin just exposed him like that, so he pushes the older away and rolls under a table, burying himself inside his burrito of a blanket. He blushes when everyone starts to laugh.            
_______
             
Felix feels like shit on the morning of his first day of highschool. He spent the whole of last night playing multiplayer video games with Changbin despite his mother's warnings that he's gonna crash, and now he's definitely regretting it.
             
Olivia wakes up him too early (the snide smiles she gives Felix attest to the fact that she did it on purpose), and he nearly burns himself with hot water when he enters the shower. After, he puts on his school uniform (a white button up shirt with the school's logo on it, with navy blue pants and a navy blue blazer and tie) without actually thinking too much about it. Then he heads to the living room a few seconds later and endures Olivia laughing in his face because he tied his tie the wrong way.
Felix ignores her and their parents' stare and makes himself some cereal. After he does that, he takes a seat adjacent from his father's own and starts fixing his tie. Felix's father is staring at him with that disappointed gaze again, and even though it's mild, Felix still cowers into himself and quickly finishes his cereal.He gets ready before his other family members, and waits in the empty living room, trying to calm his nerves.Phones aren't allowed to be seen in his new school, but Felix finds himself searching for his phone inside his bag and goes on the group chat to see what his friends are up to.

I LOVE NAEUN♡♡♡

Jisungg: naeun,, let's go to school together [sent 7:13 am]

Nana: we go to different schools, remember? [sent 7:13 am]

Jisungg: i know

[sent 7:14 am]

Jisungg: i miss you so much [sent 7:14 am]

Nana: miss you too sungie ♡♡♡ [sent 7:14 am]

Jisungg: ♡♡♡ [sent 7:15 am]

ChangBin: bruh
[sent 7:16 am]
ChangBin: felix, let's go to school together [sent 7:16 am]
ChangBin: your family's almost ready, right? [sent 7:16 am]
Lix: yeah. Lix: what about your driver? Lix: it's gonna be cramped in dad's car [sent 7:17 am]
ChangBin: i don't mind :) [sent 7:17 am]
Jisungg: :'(( [sent 7:18 am]
Nana: :'(( [sent 7:18 am]
The problem with Changbin's plan is that the car that Felix's father has is kind of small, and Olivia needs a ride. Changbin's parents hired a private driver for Changbin, but he doesn't want to take advantage of it. Felix doesn't know why.
When Olivia exits her room with her uniform properly placed on her (and is that makeup on her face?), she tells mom and dad that her friend's parents are picking her up today, unknowingly solving Felix's problem.
Felix bites back a laugh when Olivia's friend, a tall guy that looks like he's way out of his sister's league, comes to pick her up and she starts trying so hard to impress the boy.
"Is that her new boyfriend?" Felix's mother asks him once Olivia leaves and when his father isn't around, since he can't really handle the subject of his kids dating anyone.
Felix shrugs, leaning over the porch, even though his mother told him numerous times not to do that. He excitedly waves at Changbin when he sees him in the distance, and Changbin starts running, a big grin on his face.
"He's not going with his driver today?" Felix's mother asks. Her and his father are well aware of how well off Changbin's family is, but unlike other families, they don't leech off of them just because they're friends.
"No," replies Felix, "he's coming with me today."
"Good morning, Mr and Mrs Lee," Changbin greets after meeting up with Felix. He's still so formal around them even when they've told him plenty times that he can call them Mom and Dad.
"Hello, dear," Felix's mother answers. She has a fond smile on her face, which mirrors her husband's own.
Before Felix can stop himself, his eyes trail down Changbin's figure. The older's not wearing his blazer like Felix is, so half of his arms are on display. Felix notices how Changbin's biceps bulge under the shirt he's wearing, and he quickly looks away, kind of wishing that he had a body like Changbin's.

_______

"I hope you help Felix and show him around the school," Felix's dad intructs Changbin in a lighthearted manner, and laughs when Changbin nods dutifully.

Felix just stares out of the car's window, zoning in and out of everyone's conversation.

"I will, Mr Lee."

"Good," Felix's father smiles, "and please, just call me Dad. I've been telling you to do that ever since last year."

Felix tries not to roll his eyes at his father's words. He loves his dad, he really does, but they've never had a casual conversation like this in a long time. His father almost regards him like a stranger at times, and he doesn't smile around him as much as he smiles around Changbin. It's almost as if his father prefers Changbin over him. He probably does.

Thankfully, the school appears soon, and in a couple of seconds Changbin and Felix are out of the car and saying their goodbye's to Felix's parents.
"What was that all about?" asks Changbin a few moments later.
"What was what all about?"
"You were so silent in the car. Is something wrong?"
Felix wraps his hands around his bag's straps, and takes a deep breath. "No, nothing's wrong." He grins at his best friend. "Show me around?"
They meet Jisung a few minutes later by the boy's bathroom, placing his finger on his lips when he sees them and talking to someone on his phone. They both know it's Naeun.
"There're so many people in here," Felix says, swallowing the lump that has gathered inside his throat. He's nervous, his hands are slightly shaking, and he wants to run home. But he ignores his fear, and forces himself to keep on a brave face in front of Changbin.
"Highschool's like that. Don't worry. You'll make new friends. Don't sweat it."
Felix pushes out his hands in front of Changbin, and the older places his hands on the Australian's palms, rubbing them. He always does this when Felix feels nervous, and it's either that or the alternative, which is Felix checking his pulse over and over again. No thank you.
"Thank you, hyung." Felix says. He rarely calls Changbin 'Hyung', but whenever he does, Changbin gives out a radiant smile.
"You're welcome, Lix."

_______

Felix quickly checks his pulse when he enters his first class that morning. Everyone looks nearly identical in their uniforms, and many of them don't pay any attention to Felix, too engrossed with their friend groups to notice him. He heaves a sigh of relief, and resides at an empty seat at the back of the class, hoping to be invisible to everyone.

Jisung isn't in his class, 1-A, but he's in 1-C instead, and Felix hates that they've gotten seperated. He hopes they have at least a class together though.

"Hey...May I seat here?" Someone asks a few minutes in. Felix looks up, seeing a guy with dark red hair in front of him gesturing to the empty seat next to him.
"Uh--sure."
Redhead (adorably) smiles, before taking the seat. He nods at Felix. "Thanks. I'm Kim Seungmin. You are...?"
"Lee Felix," Felix introduces. He doesn't know what to make of Seungmin. The guy seems nice enough, but kind of nerdy, which slightly intimidates the Australian.
Seungmin waves someone over, and suddenly a new guy joins them. He looks unbelievably pretty, and seats on the other side of Felix, so now the Australian is awkwardly stuck in the middle of two (likely) friends.
"Hi," Pretty Guy breaths out as if he ran here or something, dumping his bag on his table. It makes a dull sound on the surface. "I'm Hwang Hyunjin. What's your name?"
"Lee Felix."
"Cool. Foreigner?" Hyunjin asks, genuinely curious.
"Yeah. Moved here when I was six though."
Hyunjin smiles, and Felix feels his pulse race, because the guy is just too goodlooking. And--why is Felix suddenly thinking about how he looks? "That's cool, dude. Hope you like Korea."
"Yeah. Korea's great."
Seungmin and Hyunjin then proceed to talk about random topics, only involving Felix at random intervals. Felix can't keep up though, and finds himself eventually zoning out until the teacher for the first class comes in.
Felix is right, because Seungmin is smart. But he's the kind of smart person that doesn't shove their smartness in everyone's faces, and when Felix experiences difficulties in some math problems, Seungmin readily helps him.
Hyunjin is good at math too, and even though they help Felix when he needs it, the Australian can only feel bad, because everyone in his class seems smarter than him, and he already hates maths because of how inferior it makes him feel.
He knows he's gotta get good grades in all his subjects, or his parents, especially is dad, would not be happy with him.
Groaning, he runs his hands through his hair, wanting the day to end already.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When lunch finally comes and when his class gets dismissed, Felix waits for no one and rushes out the door, eager to meet Jisung and Changbin already.He stands next to the door of class 1-C and taps his foot impatiently on the very clean floors of school. His eyes briefly take in the guys and girls that head out of the class, getting more and more irritated when Jisung's face is nowhere to be seen."Lee Felix," someone suddenly speaks. A pair of hands land on the Australian's shoulders, and Felix nearly jumps out of his skin. "Where the fuck were you?"Felix shrugs off Jisung's strangely large hands and turns to face him. "Waiting in front of you in front of your class. Where were you?"They make way for a couple of guys, who look like jocks with how sporty their clothes are, as they run down the halls and bump into each other like they own the place or something."Looking for you," Jisung answers, running a hand down his face. "I didn't see you at your class, so I spent like, five minutes looking around the entire school for you, and now I'm hungry."Felix wonders if Jisung actually looked around the whole school for him, but he doubts it. Jisung hates anything to do with exercise, but Felix's only slightly better. At least he rides his bike a lot instead of going on buses.He doesn't have time to say anything else because Jisung's dragging him to the Freshman lockers, and it's totally a coincidence that their lockers are right next to each other."Put your bag in and let's head to the cafeteria and try and find Changbin," Jisung orders, crossing his arms over his chest. He looks a bit angry, and Felix guesses that it all has to do with not seeing Naeun today.Nevertheless, the Australian opens up his locker in record time and shoves his bag inside. He probably should be more careful, considering how expensive his books are, but he's hungry right now, and hunger clouds everyone's judgement.After Felix secures the lock on his dark blue locker, he and Jisung stroll through the school, looking at the different cliques that students have formed inside the school. There're guys sitting on steps clicking away on their laptops, girls walking across the halls in groups of five and more with their costly looking hairdo's and nails, and there're people like Jisung and Felix, who look like little kids in a snake pit."I feel like we're making it super obvious that we're freshmen," Jisung whispers. He then fixes his posture and makes his chin jut out a little bit, trying to look more mature than he really is.Felix smacks his arm. "What are you doing?""I'm trying to look cool. Duh." Jisung pushes up the sleeves of his blazer to expose his lower arms, as if that's going to make him look mature."No one's even watching us anyway," Felix reasons, even though he knows it's not true. There're a couple of girls who watch him and Jisung, but they look older than them, so instead of Felix feeling flattered, he feels kind of scared.Jisung slumps, completely oblivious to the short haired girl who's been staring at him for the past five seconds. "I give up. No one's gonna take me seriously with my baby face. At least you have more of a chance. You're cute, but not overwhelmingly so."Felix purses his lips into a straight line, hating it when Jisung goes into one of his frequent low moods. It helps when someone like Naeun is there to distract Jisung, but now that she's nowhere to be seen, Felix is left to deal with everything alone."Hey. We're gonna eat food, okay? That'll cheer you up." Felix is the absolute worst at making people feel better, but Jisung nods along, and in a minute they're inside the cafeteria.
_______
"Uuugh, why does everyone here have black hair?" Jisung groans, looking around the wide room that's considered the cafeteria. Nearly everyone there has black hair, and Felix himself admits that it's going to be hard finding Changbin, who also has black hair.Felix grips on his tray of food, which consists of triangular shaped sandwiches, greens, fried chicken, a can of soda, and two red apples. It may seem like a lot, but compared to Jisung's overflowing tray, it's not even close. They can get anything they want since school lunches are covered in the school fee, so Jisung and Felix take advantage of that fact to the fullest."I give up," Jisung states, "my arms are getting tired. Let's just--go find a random seat or something.""Felix! Jisung!" Someone calls out their names at that moment, capturing their attention immediately. They see Changbin waving them over from the center of the room, and now it's assured that Jisung and Felix will have a place to seat down at lunch, and not by themselves like a couple of losers.Felix and Jisung quickly walk over to Changbin's table while awkwardly avoiding any eye contact with any other students that aren't Changbin. It's when they're within a few feet from the raven haired male that they see he's not alone. They're are two guys with Changbin, and next to him they look older and taller. It makes Changbin kind of seem younger than he actually looks, which Felix finds oddly endearing.He's never ever going to tell Changbin that though."Guys, what took you so long?" Changbin asks, taking a look at all the food that Jisung and Felix have on their trays.Jisung unwraps a sandwich and then another and starts eating right away, which can only be classified as stress eating. Jisung's only like that when he's anxious about something."We were..." Felix searches for the right words to say, "...lost." He can't say that he and Jisung were late because they spent like ten minutes trying to find Changbin in the crowd of students, because that will just seem lame. And he doesn't want to seem lame, ever.Changbin shrugs, before looking at the guys next to him. One is broad-shouldered and smiling, and the other one has black, curly hair and kind of looks intimidating. "Felix, Jisung, these are my friends Chan and Woojin. They're Juniors.""Hi. I'm Han Jisung," Jisung greets, still filling his face with food. Felix doesn't know how he manages to stay thin after he eats so much food in his stress eating episodes."Lee Felix," replies Felix. He's unwrapping his sandwich when Changbin passes another sandwich to him. He softly smiles. "Thanks, Changbin.""No problem." Changbin suddenly looks smug. "You look like you need it anyway.""Excuse me?"The guy called Woojin chuckles, while Chan speaks up, his curls lightly bouncing as he does so."Next time though, guys, don't get that much food, even if it's free."Chan looks like he knows what he's talking about, since he's a Junior student for crying out loud, but that doesn't stop Felix from asking his next question."Why?""It makes you stick out, I guess? I mean, no one ever orders that much food in here, and even if they bring their own lunch, it's still not a lot of food. Nasty rumours about your weight can spread just from that."At this, Jisung slowly stops eating, because he's just violated some rule that he didn't even know about. Felix, however, finds it kinda dumb, but he doesn't say anything.He kicks at Changbin's leg, eliciting a wince from the older male. "Why didn't you tell Jisung and I this?""I didn't think you guys would get that much food," Changbin quickly defends, and Felix slightly pushes his tray to the side. "Don't force yourself to stop eating because of that. I'd like you to keep your chubby cheeks.""The only person here that has chubby cheeks is Jisung," Felix replies, accidentally stabbing a plastic fork into his apple."So how did you guys meet Changbin?" Jisung cuts into their conversation, obviously trying to change the topic to something other than his chubby cheeks."Around last year," Woojin replies, turning towards Jisung's direction. That's when Felix notices the numerous piercings that line Woojin's left ear. They glitter under the artifical lighting of the cafeteria, and are pretty to look at. Now that Felix thinks about it, lots of guys have ear piercings in this school, and even though it felt weird at first, Felix gradually became accustomed to it.Woojin continues talking while Chan looks at him. "We always hung out at lunch after Chan and Changbin met in Music, and whenever else we had free time.""Oh, okay," Jisung sips on his cherry flavoured soda using a straw, most of his food forgotten.Felix doesn't feel like taking anything else after eating his apples either, so Chan and Woojin take his tray for him, which he's glad for since he doesn't want to waste any food. The nights he spent in his house fighting with his sister over the last slice of pizza, or anything, really, has taught him the importance of finishing his food.Someone kicks his feet. Felix looks up and meets Changbin's eyes. Woojin and Chan are talking and eating together now, while Jisung's still in his moody state. Despite all this, Felix still feels exposed, especially with the way Changbin's practically playing footsie with him under the table."What are you thinking about?" Changbin asks, resting his chin on his palm. He fixes Felix with an attentive gaze, which makes the Australian feel kind of important. "Come on, you can tell me."Felix decides to joke around with his answer, just like how he jokes about anything when the atmosphere gets too serious."What if I say I'm thinking about you?" It comes out differently than Felix expects.Changbin lets out a strangled sound and almost chokes on air, before he covers his face because of how embarrassed he feels. Everyone's eyes are on him now, but he'll rather look at them than look at Felix, at least that's what Felix gathers from Changbin's reaction.Changbin slams a hand on his chest three times, before letting out a deep breath. "Uh, wow. Really?""Yeah. It's either you or maths, and even though the choices are both unfavourable, I ended up choosing you instead. Congrats," Felix jokes once again, not taking into account Changbin's previous strange reaction."You fucker," Changbin whispers, slapping Felix's arm. His face is still a bit red, like the red apples seating untouched on Jisung's tray.Felix just shrugs.
_______
 
Felix and Changbin end up arm wrestling for the rest of the lunch period, and Changbin usually wins.
 
It's kind of a blow to Felix's pride, not that he's going to admit it to anyone anyway, because he really, really wants to beat Changbin for once, because why is his best friend so strong, and why is he so weak?
 
Felix wins a match, but then realizes that Changbin probably let him win. "You're making me win. You're cheating."
 
Changbin holds Felix's right hand tighter. "I didn't, sweetheart."
 
"Stop calling me that."
 
They have another match, and Changbin wins once again. Felix folds his arms and sulks.
 
Changbin pulls his arms away from his chest. "Don't be sad."
 
"I can't even beat you at a simple hand wrestling game. You're so freaking strong, and I'm so weak. Why can't I be like you?"
 
Changbin's still holding Felix's arms, but now his hands are running up and down Felix's arms in a comforting motion. "You're still fourteen, Felix. You're still growing."
 
Felix pouts, looking at his lap. "Yeah, but I'm turning fifteen in two weeks. I've got to man up, and, my voice still sounds like a prepubescent kid," he whispered, voice cracking a little bit. He has no intention of crying at school, of all places, though, and bites on his tongue to rid the tears away.
Jisung stares at them when Changbin slides down his hands in order to cup Felix's own pair. "Yeah, you are. But you don't need to 'man up' or whatever. You're still beautiful in your own way."Felix scoffs at Changbin's chosen adjective to describe him. "I'm not 'beautiful'. That's such a weird adjective to use.""I'm trying to comfort you, okay?" Changbin sighs, and Felix laughs at that. It's one of the laughs that he gives out when he's genuinely amused, and Changbin smiles at him. As they stare at each other, a delicate kind of atmosphere surrounds them, and Felix watches as Changbin's stare slowly gets unfocused and kinda looks dazed."This is so sad, Alexa play Cheer Up by TWICE," Jisung mutters, and now the moment is ruined.The bell rings a second after, and Felix yanks his hands off of Changbin's and grabs his empty tray, wishing Chan and Woojin a goodbye."See you after school Changbin," Felix tells Changbin after he stands up."Cool. We'll hang out at Jisung's place for a while, right?" Changbin focuses his eyes on Jisung. "Jisung?"The aforementioned male flashes a real smile for the first time that day. "Sure. Naeun's gonna be there."Felix bites his lower lip so hard in order to stop himself from rolling his eyes that he's pretty sure he bruised the soft skin.
_______
 
Felix and Jisung end up having one class together, which is English Language. The class is basically a free-for-all for them, because they're both great at the subject.
 
Felix falls asleep halfway through the class, and Jisung spends his time actually pretending to listen to the teacher.
 
_______
 
"Your lower lip sorta looks bad," Changbin honestly tells Felix when they're all stationed at Jisung's house.
 
Felix touches it, before shrugging. "Guess I bit on it too much." He looks out the open door at where Jisung and Naeun are perched on the porch, sharing earbuds while listening to music. "Can't believe they left us all alone again." He bites his lip and instantly winces, angry at himself for how stupid he could get at times.
 
"Shit. It's bleeding. Wait." Changbin runs upstairs into Jisung's room, and comes out with a box of antiseptic wipes and tissue. He places the materials on a table and drags Felix with him towards the piece of furniture. "Stay still."
 
"I'm gonna apply the antiseptic myself," Felix says, but Changbin doesn't listen to him.
 
When Changbin tries to clean Felix's injured lip with the tissue, Felix pulls back. "Felix. Stop being stubborn."
 
"Let me do it." Felix tries to grab the tissue, but Changbin grips his arm, stoping him. "Changbin."
 
"You're literally the clumsiest person I know. Just let me clean it up, please."
 
Felix is silent as Changbin shifts closer to him, and the Australian tightly shuts his eyes when Changbin starts wiping off the blood from his lip. It stings a bit, but it's not enough to pain Felix.
It's when Changbin starts dabbing the antiseptic wipe on his lip that Felix hisses.Changbin grabs Felix's bicep, and the Australian's breath hitches. "Just stay still, okay?"Felix wants to say something, but he can't. Not when he can feel Changbin's breath fanning his cheek, and it's too much to handle. Too much. Changbin's holding him in place, holding his jaw to steady him, cleaning his lip; he's there, everywhere. Felix quickly opens his eyes, but regrets it soon after when he registers how close his and Changbin's faces are. Changbin's eyes are concentrated on his lips, and Felix's now burning up. He's burning up.That's why he pushes himself away from Changbin when the older's about to touch his lips again.Changbin regards him with confusion and slight irritation. "Felix. Let me clean it.""I can do it myself," Felix assures, grabbing a wipe and swiping it under his lips haphazardly. It hurts like a bitch, but Felix tries not to show it. "S-See?""You're not being serious right now, Lix.""Why do you want to keep on cleaning my lips?""Because I'm your friend. I want to help you.""I can clean my lips myself. At least it's not bleeding anymore, right?"Changbin draws nearer to Felix, and the Australian forces himself not to run away. "Felix, what are you talking about? So I can't touch your lips?""No! No--you can't.""Why the hell not?" Changbin actually sounds hurt, and Felix averts his eyes. "Aren't we best friends?""Of course. It's just--just weird, alright? I'm just not comfortable with you, or anyone, touching my lips. It has nothing to do with you personally, promise.""...Whatever," Changbin shrugs, his tone morbidly flat. He gathers up the unused antiseptic wipes and calls out to Jisung. "Felix and I used those antiseptic wipes! Hope you don't mind."Jisung responds, which is more like grunting and nodding at the same time, and Changbin gets upstairs to put back the stuff.Felix leans against the edge the living room's couch and folds his arms around his knees. Why does he suddenly feel like he did something wrong?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Throughout the remainder of the (very) strenuous week, Felix doesn't talk much with Changbin. Sure, they hang out at Jisung's place whenever they have time, but even when they're there they rarely have one on one conversations with one another.It heavily frustrates Felix, because he doesn't know what he did wrong, and why Changbin is acting so cold with him now. He wants them to go back to how they were; laughing about random things and being carefree without any worries, so much so that he's willing to go all out in order to make Changbin be happy with him again.Felix's also gotten closer to Seungmin and Hyunjin, and although he can't classify them as good friends yet, they're sure more than just mere acquaintances. He decides to ask them for ideas on how to win Changbin back (because they're all seating together at lunch now and have seen how impersonal Changbin's currently being with Felix) and has to admit that Seungmin and Hyunjin give pretty great ideas.Hyunjin's ideas mainly consist of food (because who can go wrong with that) and Seungmin's ideas are a bit more on the intimate side, but Felix can work with it. He'll do anything to make him and Changbin more comfortable with each other again.Jisung and Naeun get in on it too, and their role is convincing Changbin that they're all going to meet up in Felix's house that Friday night, because Felix has a slight hunch that Changbin wouldn't agree to come to Felix's house if Felix alone was there, which kind of hurts, but it's Felix fault anyway.Felix also convinces his mother to help him with the food on Thursday evening, on account that he'll help more with the chores around the house, and he's never been more glad that his mother's good with baking than he is in this situation.Olivia sees the amount of cookies their mother and Felix bake and says that he's obviously planning a date with Changbin.Felix knows it's a joke, but it doesn't stop him from getting all defensive about it. "I'm not! Why don't you continue posting your gross selfies on Instagram and leave me in peace?"Olivia rolls her eyes, before taking a chocolate chip cookie and running into her room with it before Felix can even react."Mom!" Felix cries, and he frowns when his mother laughs instead."She just took one cookie," she reasons, "why are you so mad about it?""She knows how much I need to have everything perfect for tomorrow, that's why she's being like this," Felix defends. "I need Changbin and I to talk again, and I don't want him to ignore me forever..."Felix's mother shoots an encoraging smile at her son. "You guys will sort it out either way, Felix. You're best friends after all.""Yeah, but--" Felix almost bites on his lower lip again, but stops himself just in time. It's still healing up, but at least it's not swollen like how it was on Tuesday. "--But I just don't want him to get annoyed with me." And to start hating me because of something I didn't know I did wrong."Changbin won't get annoyed with you, honey," Felix's mother explains, "he loves you, and you love him too.""I--I guess so." Probably because he's the only one who can keep up with my sarcastic and loud personality, and doesn't get offended when I roast him, and endures my clumsiness, and he's always there for me too. Felix stares at his palms, which have flour on them, and walks to the kitchen sink to wash them off with soap. After he does this, he looks at his mother and says, "I'm gonna head to my room. I have homework to do.""Okay, Felix."Felix runs into his room, but instead of doing homework, he lies on his bed and stares at his phone, wanting to call or text Changbin but not doing so in the end. A part of him feels like he'll be intruding in on Changbin's time, and that Changbin will get even more annoyed with him than he already is. And god knows how much Felix doesn't want to be thought of as annoying, especially not by Changbin.So he switches off his phone and closes his eyes, listening to the soft whirring coming from the breeze that's invading his room, completely unaware of the fact that a few houses down, Changbin's inside his room staring at his phone and hoping that a certain Australian will call or text him, because he's too much of a coward to do so. And when Felix doesn't do any of those things, Changbin gives up, feeling like there's a kind of imaginary wall that's slowly forming between them.And he doesn't know how to jump over it.
_______

Luckily, both of Felix's parents are working late on Friday, and Olivia's staying at her classmate's place to complete a group project, so the house's going to be empty of any intruders or interrupters, which is what Felix planned for all along.On Friday, Felix's classes fly past like a blur, and he unknowingly disturbs his deskmate in Korean History when he couldn't stop tapping his right foot on the ground.At lunch, Felix, with Hyunjin and Seungmin by his sides, finds Jisung faster than expected (mostly because they now have a designated spot to meet before heading to lunch now), and practically speed walks to their seat at the cafeteria, only to feel himself deflate when Changbin is nowhere to be seen.Chan and Woojin are there though, so Felix asks them if they know where Changbin is."He didn't come to school today," Chan replies, opening a bottle of yogurt."Yeah," Jisung adds, placing his tray on the wide table as he takes his seat, "he said he didn't feel well this morning. Didn't he tell you?""...I guess he did," Felix says, scratching the back of his neck. The truth is, he didn't know that Changbin skipped school because he didn't feel well, because he never told Felix. Felix tries not to dwell on that topic and chews on an apple slice (he's getting real tired of eating apples). Then it dawns on him that Changbin won't be able to come tonight because he's sick. "Shit. What about tonight?"Hyunjin, Seungmin and Jisung all stare at him with identical sympathetic gazes, while Woojin and Chan generally look out of the loop."What's going on tonight?" Woojin asks."It's nothing," says Jisung, while Felix grabs tufts of his hair like a madman, before resting his arms and head on the table."You know it's probably not safe for you to do that. It's a cafeteria table, afterall," Seungmin points out.Felix doesn't reply and instead wants to sink under the table, no matter how gross it probably is, and never see the light of day again. It seems like the universe is playing a cruel joke on him to teach him a lesson, and if it is a lesson, then Felix has learned it well enough. This punishment is simply too much, and now Felix's plan is going to go to waste.
_______
 
Despite the fact that Felix needs to get good grades, he can't help but zone out of his classes time and time again. He just can't wait for the bell to ring so he can get the hell out of this school and mull over how much of a miserable loser he is at home since he can't plan anything correctly.
 
When Felix is finally dismissed, he heads to his locker and sees Jisung standing in front of it.
 
"Hey, chipmunk. Fix your face."
 
Felix knows Jisung's only calling him that since he said Jisung resembled a squirrel once, and the older has apparently never gotten over that. "Move aside."
 
Jisung steps to the right, and Felix opens his locker, emptying a majority of his books inside it. After he's done, Jisung speaks up.
 
"You know, you and Changbin can still do that date thing."
 
"It's not a date," Felix corrects.
 
"Yeah--whatever. Just call him and see if he's better. If he is, then the date can proceed."
 
"I told you it's not a date," Felix presses, feeling annoyed with Jisung. Besides that, Felix reasons that Jisung's suggestion actually isn't a bad idea. He really, really wants tonight to work out, and for Changbin to freely talk to him again. "But...I'll give it a shot."

Jisung doesn't walk home with Felix today (since he's in a club now, go figure), which is perfectly fine by Felix since he doesn't want Jisung overhearing any potential awkwardness that may stem out from Felix's conversation with Changbin when he calls him. And Jisung can't keep his mouth shut, and he can't tell lies for long either.Felix makes sure he's out of the school compound before taking out his phone, dialling Changbin's number. He seats inside a random coffee shop and waits.Changbin picks up after two tries."Hello? Felix?"Felix smiles, because Changbin sounds okay. And that's all he wants, for his best friend to be okay. "Uh, hi Changbin. How--how are you? Feeling better?""Uhm," Changbin clears his throat, "yeah. Thanks for asking."Everything's awkward. Too awkward. It's not supposed to feel like this, and Felix tells himself that he's going to change that tonight."I'm glad," Felix replies. "...Are you coming over tonight?"Please say yes, Felix internally begs over and over again."I don't think so. I'm too tired today.""No!" Felix exclaims, drawing some attention from the customers inside the shop. He controls himself. "I mean--just come over at eight, okay? You can sleep at my house. It'll be fun, promise.""I...I don't know. Are Jisung and Naeun going to be there?"Felix realizes that now's probably the time for him to come clean about them not being there, and tries to ignore how unsettled he feels that Changbin's asking a question like that. Usually, they hang out at each other's places without feeling the need to add Jisung and Naeun into the equation, but here Changbin is, seemingly sounding like he wants Jisung and Naeun to be there, for whatever reason."No. They aren't. I just, want us to hang out like normal, you know? Please come. Please Binnie?"Felix knows he's begging at this point, but that is what he has to resort to in order for his plan to work perfectly. He just needs Changbin to be there.Changbin stays silent for a while, before saying, "Okay."Felix starts to grin really widely. "Oh my god, thank you! You won't regret it, Changbin. Love you.""I--I'll see you later, Felix."Felix's smile doesn't get wiped off his face even when Changbin hangs up, and he quickly takes a bus to get to his destination quicker, which is an ice cream shop that's a minute's walk away from his neighbourhood.When Felix gets there, he looks through the freezers, searching for something specific. He smiles when he lands on a brand of popsicles, conveniently named Bestie's, and buys a lot of them, making sure to get as many flavours as possible.As Felix stares at the cute brown and white cartoon bears that are hugging on the plastic covering the popsicles, he remembers the day he got a Bestie's popsicle for Changbin. Changbin was ten then, while Felix was nine, and Changbin had been crying because he lost Gyu somewhere. Felix tried to cheer Changbin up by buying a strawberry flavoured popsicle for him, and it worked, at least for a while. Then Changbin started crying again until Felix found the plushie under his bed.Felix chuckles to himself at the memory. Now that he thinks about it, Changbin was such a crybaby when they were younger, and Felix was always the one who patched him up, but now the roles are getting reversed.He sighs, entering his house a few minutes later and dumping the popsicles into his mini freezer, where different containers of ice cream also lay.As the orange sky evolves into a mystifying royal blue, Felix's anxiety rises. He bites on his nails countless times, changes his clothes until he lands on an acceptable dark blue shirt and comfortable, but not trashy, grey sweatpants, and spends more than five minutes staring at himself in the mirror reciting what he wants to say to Changbin when the older comes.When someone knocks on the door, Felix almost jumps out of his skin. He quickly walks to the door and stares through the window to see who the person is.It's Changbin.Felix glances at the clock on the wall. It reads 7:51 PM.Felix takes in deep breaths before unlocking the door and opening it. "Hey Changbin."Changbin smiles, a real smile this time, and walks in with a bag in his arms. He drops it on the sofa. "Hey Felix. Where's the rest of your family?"Felix quickly looks over Changbin's outfit. The shorter's clad in a shirt that looks similar to Felix's own, but it's a lilac purple colour, and dark blue jeans. They look good on Changbin. "They're out. Won't be back until later.""Oh." Changbin nervously pulls on the hem of his shirt, and Felix suddenly remembers why this meetup is held in the first place."I'm sorry," Felix starts, and Changbin looks up at him. He continues speaking before the older can say anything. "I'm sorry for how I acted on Monday. I-I came out rude, and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Please accept my apology." Felix planned a way different speech in mind, but he forgot about it halfway with how intensely Changbin is looking at him.Changbin breaks out into a gentle smile. "Of course I accept your apology. I can never stay mad at you. I do things that hurt your feelings too.""But," Felix steps closer to his best friend, "I offend you more. I can be so insensitive at times, and I'm so sorry for that. I just want us to go back to how we were before: friends comfortable with each other."Changbin slightly hesitates before answering, "Okay."Felix grins, before grabbing Changbin's hand and dragging him upstairs. "Let's go up to the attic.""What--why?""Are you still scared of the attic?" Felix jokes. Changbin smacks his arm."I'm not. Shut up."The attic's at the top of the house, and has a little window off to the side that can be opened to go on the roof. Felix laughs as they finally arrive at the lit up attic, and looks at Changbin to see his reaction to everything.Changbin's eyes look over the interior, obvious surprise etched on his face at seeing the fairy lights that adorn the place. In the corner is a large blanket that looks very comfortable, and the middle of the room holds a table with different snacks and baked goods. The mini freezer's also there, and Felix smiles in accomplishment at Changbin's awed reaction."You like it?" The Australian asks, and Changbin nods quickly. "They're your favourite things all in one."Felix pulls Changbin with him to the table as they take a seat, and Felix opens up the container of cupcakes and cookies. "Neat, right?""Yep," Changbin grins, because everyone knows how much he loves sweet things."I know you usually feed me food, but I wanna do it tonight. Can I?""I don't know, can you?"Felix chuckles instead of making a sarcastic comeback like he usually does, because he doesn't want to ruin the moment, and slowly pushes a chocolate cupcake in front of Changbin's lips, watching as the raven haired male takes a generous bite out of it. "Delicious, right? I made it.""Don't believe you," replies Changbin, swallowing his bite. He looks extremely happy, a big smile on his lips, and Felix wants to capture it on camera."I did. Well, I got help from mom.""Knew it." Changbin takes another bite, and Felix leans in, taking a cookie now instead."Say ahh~"Changbin almost chokes on his laughter. "I'm not a kid Lix.""Ahh~" Felix moves the cookie about like an airplane, and then places it in Changbin's mouth. Warmth swirls in Felix's chest when Changbin looks like he's enjoying the cookie. "How is it? It's a chocolate chip cookie. Your favourite."Changbin gives him a thumbs up. He speaks up after finishing the cookie. "I need something to wash this down.""Ohh, I guess it's time for this then," Felix overexaggeratedly announces, opening up the freezer and pulling out two of Bestie's popsicles. "Remember this?"Changbin's eyes soften upon witnessing the popsicles, and a small smile takes over his face. "I do...""I bought a popsicle for you when you were ten. You were crying then over Gyu because you lost it," Felix continues, a fond smile forming on his face. "Now that I think about it, you're such an ugly crier.""Am not!" Changbin disagrees and Felix loudly cackles. "It's you who has an ugly crying face, and you can't deny it."Felix shakes his head. "I'm too flawless to have an ugly crying face.""You keep telling yourself that," Changbin answers, but his tone is on the teasing side, and he's giggling."I will." Felix hands a popsicle to Changbin and keeps the other one for himself. "Do you also remember me saying that you're the brown bear and I'm the white one?""Yeah." Changbin opens the packet, licking a spot on his popsicle before adding, "it was because the white bear's taller, wasn't it?""Yep." Felix copies Changbin as they finish off their popsicles (and take some more too) and then Felix places his chin on his palms, staring at Changbin.Changbin gets flustered. "Well...what are we doing now?Felix slides his hand over the table and laces it with Changbin's as he pulls them up. His heart feels strangely light and alive, somewhat like an air balloon in the sky. He doesn't mind it when Changbin tightens his grip on his hand, and picks up the wide blanket from the floor.Looking at his best friend, Felix says, "Let's get on the roof.""Okay."There's a ladder that they can use, and soon enough Changbin's pulling Felix through the window before seating on the edge. Felix carefully joins him at his left."Remember when we got to your house after eating those popsicles, and you started crying again because of Gyu?" Felix laughs, staring up at the night sky. He starts unfolding the blanket. "I tried making you stop crying and then--""--and then you sang me some song you made," Changbin finishes for the taller. He stares at Felix and Felix stares at him too. Felix thinks the light from the moon accentuates the best parts of Changbin's face, like his dark eyes and prettily round lips. "...Do you still remember it?"Surprisingly, Felix does, for some reason. He inhales a deep breath while Changbin wraps the blanket around him and Felix, and the Australian immediately feels warmer. A kind of addictive buzz skitters through Felix's chest when Changbin's shoulder makes contact with his own. "Uhm, don't cry, baby Changbin, don't cry--oh my gosh, this is so bad."Changbin keeps on staring at him, and now he's trying to hold back the smile that's slowly expanding on his face. "Come on. Go on."Felix groans into his palms, and then forces himself to continue. He's only doing this for Changbin. "Don't cry baby Changbin, don't cry. You can do it, you just have to try. I just want to see your smile, it makes my heart run a mile--" Felix abruptly stops, insanely embarrassed for his younger self. What was he thinking when he sang this? "Fuck, this was so horrible.""No, it wasn't. It was cute, and cheered me up," Changbin tells the Australian.That addictive buzz multiplies when Felix feels Changbin's hand on top of his. His first instinct is to pull it away, but he doesn't. The buzz travels into his chest, where it mixes up with the fuzzy warmth already present there. They create gentle sparks in Felix's heart, and Felix smiles when he meets Changbin's eyes."Thank you for today," Changbin says with gratitude. "I really loved it.""No problem, Changbin."They stare at the sky for a bit, and then, Felix slowly scoots closer to Changbin, lets his defenses fall, along with any fear or trepidation, and rests his head on Changbin's chest. He doesn't know why he does this, but it feels right. When Changbin immediately responds and puts an arm around Felix's waist, it feels right. There's no inhibition now, and no judgement. All that's there now are calm thoughts, soft feelings, and a silent night.And Felix likes it more than he thought he would.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

A few days before Felix's birthday (and Jisung's, because they're almost birthday twins), Changbin tells Felix that he wants to let him know something after school in the morning when Felix's father takes them to school.To say that Felix is curious will be the understatement of the year. He suddenly can't wait to hear what Changbin wants to tell him, because with the way Changbin whispered those words, it sounded like a secret. Secrets are a kind of foreign subject in Changbin's and Felix's relationship, because they rarely keep secrets from each other. They'll rather just talk it out, and as far as Felix knows, Changbin hasn't been keeping any secrets from him."Why can't you just tell me now?" Felix whispers, shifting closer to Changbin until their arms collide in a sudden and clumsy motion. Felix stares as his and Changbin's matching shoes, and bends down to tie Changbin's right shoelace for him, because it's not fully tied."It's not something I can say when your parents are there," Changbin replies when Felix sits up. "And thanks, by the way.""No worries. But--you can just whisper it in my ear or something." Felix looks at his parents in front of him, and sees how his father's eyes are focused on the road before them, and his mother's looking through her hand bag for something. "See? They're not gonna listen to us.""Felix," Changbin starts with that tight tone he uses when he's not changing his point of view anytine soon, "after school, okay?"Felix knows that it's not the best idea right now to argue with Changbin. He doesn't want to argue with Changbin, and doesn't want another fight to develop. So he nods, heaving a deep sigh. "Fine. Okay. We meet at my house, okay?""Sweet." Changbin's familiar bright smile shows itself, and Felix feels extremely happier now. "Can't wait."
_______
 
Felix gets dragged into his first group project in high school at Mrs. Kim's History class. He dreads everything when the short, middle aged woman calls his name along with a set of other names that sound unfamiliar to Felix. Hyunjin and Seungmin are nowhere to be found on the list, and the anxiety rolls in.
 
"Get into your groups, please," the teacher instructs, before seating at the teacher's table without telling Felix anything about how his groupmates look like, other than their names.
 
"Tough luck, kid," Hyunjin laughs and he carries his chair.
 
"You're in the same grade as me. And you're lucky you and Seungmin are in the same group together," Felix huffs, surveying the heads of students for the people he's supposed to work with. "And who the hell is Kwon Stephanie?"
 
Seungmin acts like a good friend and points to a brown haired girl seated at the other side of the classroom. "That's her. We went to the same middle school together."
 
Still, Felix feels nervous. "Is she like, okay to work with?"
 
Hyunjin shrugs. "She's smart, I guess. You're gonna get a good grade, I bet."
 
Felix takes in a deep breath, before leaving his friends and making his way to Stephanie's table, where a guy and another girl are already at. They all stare at him when he arrives.
"Hey," he greets, quickly residing at the spot by the window, zipping open his backpack.Stephanie smiles, and it's clear who the group leader's going to be. "I'm Kwon Stephanie."Felix is a pretty talkative person when he can be, but as he feels Stephanie's eyes on him, he mentally cringes. Why is she staring at him like she can see his soul or something? "I'm Lee Felix.""I'm Wong Yukhei," the tall guy with black hair says. "And yes, I'm Chinese. From Hong Kong, actually."Yukhei laughs, which surprises Felix since he looked very unwelcoming and arrogant when he didn't smile before. Felix briefly wonders if the guy is on something."Im Mina," the last girl says, her response short and to the point. Then she adds, "Seems like all of us are foreigners. I'm Canadian.""American," Stephanie says, already opening her notebook.Since everyone's introducing where they're from now, Felix says that he's from Australia, piquing the the interest of his other groupmates."Really? That's new," Stephanie grins. She's pretty, Felix thinks. "So you have a fancy accent when you speak English, right?"Felix feels more on edge than ever, especially when everyone's waiting for his answer instead of going through the history project, like they should be doing. "It's really not. In the end it's still English, I guess." He hopes that they'll refrain from questioning him further about where he's from, especially Stephanie, since she seems really interested in what he has to say.But they do."So there're like, kangaroos and koalas and heat?" Yukhei asks (of course he has to ask that, of all things to ask), drumming his fingers on the table. The Chinese male looks older than a majority of the people in this class, but he acts very much like his age."Yes. I mean, I was six when I moved here, but I'm pretty sure those things still exist," Felix nods. He's glad his blazer isn't on him now, since he doesn't need anymore things to make him feel uncomfortable and suffocated. He can't believe he's saying this, but he just wants to get on with the group project already."Are there like a lot of snakes around too?" Mina asks."Uhm, yes. Okay, can we start the project now?" Felix cuts in without missing a beat, and great, now everyone's staring at him like just commited an unforgivable crime. He lowly adds, "since the other groups are working on their projects."Stephanie nods and launches into the leader mode that Felix knew she had in her, and the Australian sighs in relief.At least he isn't stuck with lazy groupmates. Everyone seems to know what they're doing, and they're an easygoing bunch too, so Felix finds it easier to talk to them as the class period continues.Felix notices something else when the period goes by, and maybe it's just him, but Stephanie seems to really like him. Whenever he says something, she focuses all her attention on him, and she takes his ideas into consideration more than she does to Yukhei's and Mina's ideas. She's seated closest to him too, and often times their hands and feet bump into one another. She also smiles a lot when Felix and her exchange glances.Maybe Felix is wrong in assuming that Stephanie may like him like that because he can't read people that well, and hasn't had many people crushing on him. He also hasn't dated anyone yet, so he has zero experience in anything dealing with relationships.So, he ignores the theories gnawing at his mind and focuses on his school work, trying to not feel affected by the stares Stephanie shoots him ever so often.When Korean History ends, Felix stands up to take his bag and chair. He's about to start walking away when someone's hand is placed on his shoulder, stopping him."Stephanie?""Uh, Felix," Stephanie starts, running a hand down her long and wavy brown hair, "I want to tell you that I'm very thankful for the ideas you gave in this project. They're very creative."Not really. "Uh, thanks Stephanie." Felix stares at his chair. He's not acting so shy because he likes her or something, but because she intimidates him a bit with how outspoken she is and how pretty she looks. Felix just wants to go back to his seat.Stephanie grins. "You're welcome. Here," she takes out a piece of paper, "it's my number. To call about group projects and all that.""Do Yukhei and Mina have it too?" questions Felix."They will. You're the first person," she clarifies. She smiles once again, before walking to her desk. "You can go back to your seat now."Felix hurriedly finds his seat between Seungmin and Hyunjin, and breathes out a sigh of relief when he finally seats down. Seungmin and Hyunjin are watching him now, and he doesn't know how to feel with their knowing stares."So," Hyunjin whistles, "you and Stephanie?"Felix raises his eyebrows. "What's with us?""What Hyunjin's asking is if you and Stephanie like each other. We saw the way she was staring at you," Seungmin explains, shoving an almost empty folder into the opening of his bag.The question brings an unnecessary blush to Felix's cheeks, and unfortunately Hyunjin catches sight of it.Hyunjin claps his hands. "Oh my god. You do.""No!" Felix whisper-yells, clenching his fists. Hyunjin's voice is too loud, and he doesn't want anyone else overhearing his and Hyunjin's conversation. "I don't like Stephanie like that. Stop it."But Hyunjin isn't listening. "You guys are both foreigners. And she's cute, just like you are. It's a perfect match."Seungmin studies Felix's exasperated expression and shakes his head. "Nah, I don't think Felix likes Stephanie--""Thank you.""--I think he likes someone else instead."Hyunjin's eyes widen, and he leans over Felix's desk to give Seungmin a high-five. "Oh my god. That's genius. Felix, who do you like?"Felix looks across the classroom, hoping that the next teacher will show themselves soon. "I don't like anyone, guys. And no one likes me. Stop this shit."His tone must've sounded really frustrated, because Seungmin and Hyunjin decide to drop their teasing, or maybe they did that because the teacher entered. Felix is just glad that his friends aren't asking him anything anymore.Felix digs into his pockets and pulls out the paper given to him from Stephanie. A phone number is written neatly on it, and then a smiley face is added at the end. It looks more like a winky face.Does Stephanie actually like him? He probably should ask Changbin about this later, as his best friend has dated girls before. Changbin'll know what to say.Felix shoves the paper back into his pocket, and listens to what the teacher is saying.
_______
 
"Guys," Hyunjin says, planting his food tray on the table next to Jisung and gracefully seating down despite his slim and tall body. "Guess what?"
 
Chan and Woojin aren't around now, and Felix finds himself missing their company. They always tone things down when it gets too overdramatic and crazy, and Felix knows that what happens next to going to be craziness galore.
"What?" Jisung asks, his voice sounding muffled due to the yawn he's trying to suppress.Changbin lightly kicks Felix's foot, and when the Australian looks at him, he tries to stifle his giggle. He passes over a chocolate bar Felix's way, and Felix utters a small thanks."A girl in our class likes Felix," Seungmin answers instead of Hyunjin, chewing on his french fries.Changbin gets distracted by that and looks at Seungmin. "Really?""Don't believe him," Felix cuts in, rubbing his forehead. He can feel an headache coming on already. "Stephanie doesn't like me.""She gave you her number," Hyunjin points out.Jisung starts laughing wildly as if he's just heard the funniest joke in the whole universe. "She gave Felix her number? In what world?""Shut up, Jisung! If she does like me, who cares? Whatever. Let me eat my food in peace," Felix snaps, tearing open the chocolate bar. He takes a bite out of it, hoping that Seungmin, Hyunjin and Jisung get the hint and stop talking about him and Stephanie together like that, but of course they don't."Is she pretty?" asks Jisung.Hyunjin immediately nods. "She's like, in the top three, and there are a lot of pretty girls in 1-A.""Yep," Seungmin agrees, "and she's smart too. It's obvious she has a thing for Felix, judging by what we saw today."Felix forces himself to concentrate on his chocolate bar so he won't lash out on his friends for their nosiness. His eyes casually land on Changbin, who is staring at his tray, seeming to be in deep thought. Felix softly hits his leg. "Hey, don't listen to them. Are you okay?"Changbin nods, flashing a small smile. Though he's smiling, his eyes seem to be telling another story. They're guarded, and unreadable. He's closing himself off again, and Felix knows how great Changbin is at acting like he's okay.Changbin's not okay, and Felix wants to figure out why."Hey, you can tell me if something's up. I know I'm kind of bad at comforting people, but I'll try my best." Felix hopes he looks as welcoming as he sounds, but then his expression breaks a little bit when Changbin shakes his head."I told you already. I'm good." Changbin moves Felix's right hand closer to the Australian's lips. "Come on, finish your chocolate."Felix ignores the prickle of worry ebbing at his chest at his best friend's words, and keeps on eating his chocolate.
_______
 
Changbin follows Felix to his house that afternoon, only to see Olivia and her annoying friends in the living room, chatting about random things.
"Hey," Changbin greets, before Felix holds his hand to pull him upstairs.The Australian can hear one of his sister's friends commenting about how hot Changbin is, to which Olivia reprimands her because her brother's best friend is off-limits to her friends, and the whole ordeal greatly upsets Felix. Changbin is oblivious to the whole thing, and Felix guesses that that's good, since he doesn't want anymore people to add more flame to Changbin's already giant ego. Yeah, that's it.When they enter Felix's room, Felix takes off his blazer and hangs it in his closet, before unbuttoning his shirt."What--what're you doing?" Changbin asks from the bed."Taking off my shirt to put on a casual one. It feels really uncomfortable. The pants are really comfy though." Felix pulls out a random tshirt from his closet, before jokingly adding, "Feel free to watch me and laugh at how scrawny my arms are."Surprisingly, Changbin doesn't answer him. Felix puts the other shirt (which turns out to be one of Changbin's shirts that the older forgot in their many sleep overs), and turns around to watch Changbin.Changbin's eyes absentmindedly rake over the bed, seemingly in his thoughts once again.Felix jumps on the bed in order to startle Changbin, and when it works, he almost dies laughing.
"Felix! Oh my god!" Changbin springs on him, landing his hands on Felix's sides and tickling them. Felix squirms and laughs and kicks at Changbin, and the older finally lets go when Felix lands a particularly hard kick on his abdomen.
 
"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry," Felix apologizes, stuttering and stumbling over his hurried words as he scoots over to Changbin's side.
 
All of a sudden, Changbin starts tickling him again, and in a couple of seconds both males are breathless, giggling like little school girls talking about their crushes. Changbin's on top of Felix, grinning triumphantly at the fact that he won this tickling session once again, and Felix's grinning too, because he's still on a high from all the fun he just had.
 
Then the atmosphere shifts.
 
The previously weightless air is a little more heavy, and a little bit more suffocating now. Felix's suddenly hyperaware of every movement Changbin makes, and icy chills run down his back when Changbin places a palm on the side of Felix's face.
 
And oh god, Felix's heart is racing now. More than it ever did in the fourteen years that Felix has been alive. His heart wasn't even beating this fast when he ran the 100 metre race in middle school. No, this is nothing compared to that. His heartbeat's rushing, so much so that Felix fears he's having a cardiac arrest. His butterfly-driven stomach drops when the familiar buzz from Friday makes itself known again in his chest.
 
Changbin's gorgeous brown eyes are staring right at Felix's pair now, and Felix feels something akin to an adrenaline rush gushing along the insides of his veins. He's anticipating something, anything, and it's driving him crazy. The silence is killing him, and if there's something that Felix hates, it's prolonged silence.
 
He places both his hands on Changbin's chest and smiles. "So...what did you want to tell me?"
 
The silence is shattered, though the heavy atmosphere is still present.
"Oh. Well, it's not important, really." Changbin gets off Felix, and the Australian can breathe properly again.Felix doesn't sit up, and stares at the ceiling of his room. "Come on, tell me. If it has something to do with you, then it's important."Changbin meets Felix's eyes, and the raven haired male looks nervous. Really nervous. "Well, uhm. Promise you won't tell Jisung or Naeun, or anyone else."Felix tunes more into Changbin's words. "Obviously. Jisung can't keep his mouth shut even if his life depended on it. Naeun's a chatterbox too. Come on man, tell me what you're hidi--""I like boys."Felix immediately shuts his mouth. He blinks in shock, and then he's seating up, staring at his best friend with wide eyes. "Wait--Really? You...you like--""Boys. Yeah, I-I do." Changbin's eyes are wide too, like he can't believe what he just said. "Shit I--I can't believe I just said that.""Wait--wait," Felix comes in, seeing how scared Changbin looks. The older male's shoulders are shaking and he won't stop staring at his clenched hands. "Changbin."But Changbin isn't listening to him. He keeps on alternating between mumbling incoherent words to himself and clenching and unclenching his shaking fists. He's in his own world, and Felix can't get to him."Changbin--Changbin!" Felix holds Changbin's arms in place, forcing Changbin to look at him.Changbin's eyes are glittery, deeply rooted melancholy present within them. "You hate me...right?""No. No I don't. I'll never hate you," Felix promises. "I...I was just surprised because I thought you were into girls.""I kind of like girls too," Changbin breathes out, "b-but I like boys more. And I know it's weird, because not everyone will accept me. But...you will, right?""O-Of course I will," Felix quickly nods. He feels helpless when a tear cascades down Changbin's cheek, and places his thumb on it to wipe it away. "I will hyung. I'm your best friend, afterall."Changbin hugs him, nuzzling his chin on Felix's shoulder. "Thanks so much. This is the only time you'll see me cry from now on, though."Felix ignores the weird feelings circulating through his chest and laughs. "Whatever you say, Changbin. Whatever you say."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Lee Felix wakes up that morning on his fifteenth birthday, nothing feels different. He's always wondered if he'll magically grow taller on his birthday, or if he'll look more manly and if his voice will get much deeper than it was before, because birthdays are supposed to be days that all your wishes are granted, and days that are supposed to go your way, but that never happens.Felix even forgets that it's his birthday (even though Jisung's birthday was literally the day before) until his mother pokes her head through the opening of his room's door, wishing him a happy birthday."Really? It's my birthday?" Felix questions, getting off his bed so quickly that he almost trips over nothing basically. He turns on his phone that's placed (dangerously) on his school bag, almost to see if his mother's playing some sick prank on him, since she usually tends to do that to him and Olivia, only for his eyes to expand when his phone's lockscreen shows the date as September fifteenth. The wallpaper is him smiling at the camera while Changbin pretends that he's going to bite his ear off.Felix stares at the selfie for some time, before his mother's voice cuts into his mind."Happy fifteenth, honey," Felix's mother says, pulling Felix into a hug. Even if Felix doesn't really like hugs (Changbin's hugs are an exception), he lets his mother hold him just this once, because he kind of likes it when his mother displays her affection towards him, since it doesn't come that often.Also, he wants something.Felix's mother catches it as soon as she meets Felix's eyes. "And no, having your birthday on a school day does not mean you'll stay home that day. So get ready and come downstairs."Felix whines, stamping his left foot on the ground as his mother laughs and leaves the room. He doesn't want to go to school today, even though he'll meet his friends there.He just wants to lie under his bed covers and watch some TV shows, laughing and cringing at their bad acting. Changbin'll be there too, next to Felix, and they'll be sharing popcorn while the older throws some of it at the TV anytime the character he dislikes appears on screen. Then they'll--Felix's phone dings, and the Australian runs to it and picks it up. He has messages from the group chat, lots of it, and another message from Changbin himself.Unlocking his phone, he checks Changbin's message first.TrashBin🔥🔥: happy birthday felix! 🎂🎉
[sent 5:15 am]TrashBin🔥🔥: wait. you're probably asleep anyway
[sent 5:18 am]TrashBin🔥🔥: well, i'm just gonna leave this here, even though youll probably hate it hAHA
TrashBin🔥🔥: 💜💙💖💗💝💘💞💟💛💚💓❤❤
TrashBin🔥🔥: see you later lix
[sent 5:21 am]Changbin is right, because Felix does hate the numerous heart emojis, but instead of frowning at his phone, he smiles instead a he types out his reply.FrecklezZZ: thanks binnie :))
[sent 6:51 am]Felix checks on the group chat next, and a warm feeling of appreciation swells up in his chest at all the birthday wishes his friends give him, and he quickly thanks them all.But then, that warm feeling fizzles out when Felix's eyes land on a particular message from Jisung.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FELIX 🎉🎉🎂🎂 (ready for your dare?? >>:))

Jisungg: your bday dare's coming soon and i'm gonna be the one who dares you >:))
[sent 6:57 am]It's a dumb thing that Felix's friend group does every year, actually. A person gets dared to do something outrageous on their birthday (or the day, or two days, after) by another person. The person responsible for the dare gets chosen by spinning a bottle, and Felix was the person chosen yesterday for Jisung's birthday.Everyone was at Jisung's house after school, eating pancakes (because cakes are overrated) when Felix pulled out this cheap makeup kit he bought from a cosmetic store. It was supposed to be Jisung's 'gift' and the Australian obviously meant it as a joke.Jisung was then dared to use the makeup on his face and go out with it, and he ended up being terrible and heavily embarrassed by due to his dare, to the amusement of everyone else, especially Felix.Now, karma's going to get Felix back.Jinnie: oh shit
[sent 6:58 am]Minnie: ^
[sent 6:59 am]ChangBin: go easy on felix, i beg you
[sent 6:59 am]Nana: yes sungie
[sent 6:59 am]Jisungg: we shall see >>:))
[sent 7:00 am]Lix: do your worst
[sent 7:00 am]Chaos ensues in the chat, and Felix switches off his phone, running into the shower with a towel in hand before his parents get angry at him for taking too long.
_______
 
Felix sees a cake waiting for him on the dining table. It's small, but not alarmingly so, and it's an almost perfect circle, with white icing as decoration, fifteen birthday candles on it, and pretty strawberries adorning the cake's edges.
 
Felix is in love.
 
"Happy birthday Felix," his father walks up behind him and pats his shoulder, a small smile playing on his lips. Felix soaks it all up, soaks up all the attention he's getting, because who knows when he's going to receive them again?

"Thanks dad," Felix replies, and he means it. His shoulders jump slightly when he feels a pair of warm hands snaking around his the back of his neck, and Felix considers that ironic because the person those arms belong to is the coldest person alive."Happy fifteenth birthday, oooppa," Olivia wishes with a wide and cheesy smile on her face as she stretches out the 'oppa'. Felix cringes, and Olivia's creepy smile grows."Thanks, now get off me. I know you just want me to make mom give you more cake."Olivia's arms fall, a pout taking over her face. "Yeah, whatever. Take as much cake as you want. When my birthday comes up, you won't even be invited to my party.""Whatever." Felix rolls his eyes as he put on his blazer since he's close to freezing his ass off in the living room. His mother then asks him to help her set the table, and he agrees to it.Breakfast is quick, with Felix trying so hard not to laugh at how his sister's practically drooling while looking at his birthday cake, and with his fingers itching to check his phone to read all his messages. He stares at the door more often times than not, wondering if Changbin's on his way to his house. He really hopes so.Felix and his family eat the cake after. He gladly takes the biggest piece, savouring the creamy vanilla flavour of the cake as he thinks about how much Changbin would love this cake too. He doesn't eat everything, saving some for his best friend, and somehow dodges Olivia's numerous attempts to try and steal the cake he's saved.When Changbin shows up, he engulfs Felix in the tightest hug the Australian's ever received, but Felix finds himself not minding it. In fact, he's smiling. Changbin tousels his hair like one would do to a kid, and once again, Felix doesn't mind. Maybe it's because today's his birthday. He can't be sad or irritated on his birthday."Happy fifteenth," Changbin whispers, before cheekily adding "you look the same as yesterday."Felix pushes away Changbin's arm that somehow found its way around his shoulder in the span of a couple of seconds, before walking further into the room. "I was gonna give you some cake, but now..."Changbin's smug grin is now replaced with a more complacent expression. "Wait--Felix. I didn't mean it.""Of course you didn't," Felix mocks, holding back his laughter. His parents and Olivia are dressing up, so he quickly heads into the kitchen and comes out with a slice of cake. And because Felix is generous, it even has not one, but two strawberries on it. "The cake's vanilla flavoured, and it's really creamy too. It's absolutely delicious, and I wanted you to try it to see for yourself. But...now I guess I have to eat it all on my own..."Changbin drops his bag on the couch, before quickly hurrying to where Felix is. "Don't do this. You know how much I like cake.""Well, it's too late now," Felix teases, grinning widely at the older male. He takes out a fork to start cutting the cake, but then Changbin holds his wrist, stopping him. "...What?""I know it's like your birthday, but I really, really want a bite of that cake," Changbin answers. He keeps on holding Felix's wrist, and at this point Felix thinks he's just showing off how strong he is."Okay, well...There is something you can do for me," Felix says, tapping his chin and making a show of how he's thinking about something. "Oh, I know! Compliment me. You always make fun of me.""I do not.""You do trashbin," Felix chuckles, knowing fully well how Changbin hates being called that. "Now, compliment me before my family comes out.""Okay. Fine." Changbin looks down at his feet, before rubbing the back of his neck. "Obviously, I'm thinking about what to say since I can't find any compliments at the moment."Felix laughs, feeling a bit offended, and shoves Changbin again. "Do you want the cake or not?""Okay okay." Changbin sucks in a gigantic breath, being the overdramatic teenage boy that he is. "You're...a great friend. You're also smart and incredibly well-spoken for your age, even if you can act a bit immature at times--""I thought you were supposed to be complimenting me," Felix interrupts."You didn't let me finish.""Okay, okay."Changbin takes in another breath before continuing. "You're also nice too, when you want to be, and always took care of me when we were younger--even up to now. Your eyes look amazing, especially at night, and you have a really nice smile, especially when you show your teeth."Felix wants to stop Changbin because his face's starting to feel hot, but he doesn't feel like doing so since compliments about himself are one of the Australian's favourite things. It's even more meaningful since the compliments are coming from Changbin, so he takes in every little word like a sponge, every extra lilt in Changbin's tone and every specific detail about him."Eh, my smile's not that nice," Felix tells Changbin. "It's a little bit too wide. But thanks anyway."But Changbin shakes his head. "Your smile's not too wide. It's perfect just the way it is. I mean, it looks okay."Felix shrugs, before handing Changbin the small plate of cake. "Here, you can take it now. Thanks for complimenting me, even though I kind of forced you."Changbin's already pushing a piece of cake into his mouth. He chews, giving Felix a thumbs up with his cheeks puffed out like a blowfish.Felix questions why he's even friends with Changbin at this point, but then the answer comes before he can finish asking himself that.It's because Changbin is Changbin, and that's the only answer Felix needs.
_______
 
"So, what present did you get me?" Felix asks, his hands inside his pockets. They're just in front of the school's compound, watching casually as other students go in and come out of District High's grand gates.

"Aren't you worried about what Jisung's gonna dare you to do?" Felix picks up on how Changbin smoothly dodges his question right away, but decides to give Changbin the benefit of the doubt.Felix shrugs, before scrunching up his nose. "Anything's fine, as long as he doesn't let me anywhere near frogs. Ew.""Frogs are gross," Changbin agrees, absentmindedly playing with the ends of his bag straps. His bottom lip is sucked in, and his eyes are contemplative, hiding under the stoic front that Changbin pulls off so well.Felix pats the shorter's arm. Changbin's eyes snap up to meet his. "Changbin, what's up?"Changbin clasps his hand in Felix's own and drags him to one of the trees at the back of the school. It's all, with many twisted and thick roots, and frankly Felix feels a bit wary of it.Felix doesn't hesitate to question Changbin's actions. "Why--why are we here. This tree's kinda creepy, to be honest, and fuck, there aren't many people around here either."Changbin searches through his backpack to bring out something in his hands. He smiles, although a bit cautiously, at the Australian as he dangles an object, or objects, in front of him. "Ta-da! I got us friendship bracelets. I mean, I put everything together, but I got our names inscripted into them."Felix blinks at the bracelets for like a second, before a huge smile grows on his face. "Wow, really? That's so cute."Changbin nods, all shy smiles and quick steps as he takes the golden bracelet and gently circles around Felix's wrist. "I...just realized that we've never had friendship bracelets, even after all those times we spent together, so I just wanted to gift it to you I guess."The bracelet on Felix's wrist looks amazing with it's intricate veiny designs (Changbin must've went crazy on this one), tiny decorative golden yellow beads with a small metal cursive 'c' and a heart hanging off one of the beads. Felix grins at the sight. "I really love this.""Thank you. I was sort of afraid that you wouldn't like it," Changbin mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck. His wrist has his own version of the bracelet too, but his own his black and has a 'f' hanging from it instead of a 'c'. "I know it's not as fancy as the bike I got you last year, but...it's the thought that counts, right?""I love that bike, but I love this more," Felix admits, wrapping an arm around Changbin's shoulder, "because you made it for me. You put so much thought into our friendship bracelets, and no one has ever done that for me before. I really love it, for real. I'll wear it every where I go.""So you'll even wear it when you shower? 'Cause I don't recommend that."Felix unexpectedly hugs Changbin, lightly laughing when the shorter makes a brief sound of surprise. Felix takes advantage of his and Changbin's height difference and places his chin on Changbin's head. "Thanks for doing this."Like always, Changbin doesn't hesitate in bringing the Australian closer to him, placing his head on Felix's shoulder and inhaling the taller's sweet scent. "You're welcome, sweetheart.""Oh my god. You've started with that again.""Yep," Changbin smiles. "I am. Because I want to.""You're insufferable.""Well, thank you."They both make no move to pull away and stay like that until the bell rings a minute later.